City Council votes to extend brick siding on district court renovation

By Whitney Snipes

government@couriernews.com

The Russellville City Council opted to restart the bidding process for a new phone system during a special called meeting Wednesday.

Prior to the council meeting, the finance committee met and discussed submitted bids for the phone system which would serve city departments and offices.

Although the city had previously conducted a bidding process, some of the aldermen felt the bid specifications did not clearly and explicitly state the requirements for the system. Committee chair Mark Tripp motioned the committee recommend the council reject all submitted bids and "start from scratch."

"I'm not feeling like everything was clearly stated in black and white from the beginning," he said, later adding "as it stands right now, there's nothing in writing that would allow us to disqualify one bid over another over the amount of phones ... or something else."

Alderman Martin Irwin echoed Tripp's concerns.

"This was, to be frank, a poorly executed bid process," he said.

The committee agreed unanimously to recommend the council reject all bids the city has received on the system.

After making the first recommendation, the committee next tackled how to best re-bid the system. Horton suggested having two companies who were planning on bidding the project collaborate with the city to develop bid specifications. City attorney Trey Smith said he did not believe doing so would be a conflict of interest.

"You have maybe a perception of that, but objectively, in reality they're putting together something that's going to be available as public knowledge," he said.

The final recommendation of the committee, with a unanimous vote, was for Alderman Randall Horton to facilitate writing new bid specifications by consulting with the mayor, finance director and a third-party consultant as needed.

At the subsequent special-called City Council meeting, all present members of the council voted to accept both of the finance committee's recommendations regarding the phone system bids.

The finance committee also recommended the council approve a change in the specifications for the renovation of the district court building on East Second Street to include brick siding on the remainder of the west side of the building, on the north side of the building and extending 8 feet on the east side of the building at an estimated cost of just under $33,000.

"I'm looking at 50 years from now, what do we want it to look like?" Horton said. "I think we should brick it."

When the council considered the finance committee's recommendation, some questions were raised as to how a window-less wall of bricks across the building's addition, where Crouch's Cabinet Shop currently resides, would look. Before voting on the finance committee's recommendation, the motion was amended to include an architect's rendering of the bricked building.

Aldermen Ron Knost, Burke Larkin, Northcut and Horton voted in favor of approving the rendition and extra brickwork. Aldermen Kevin Freeman, Tripp and Irwin voted against the motion and Alderman Garland Steuber was not present. Mayor Bill Eaton voted for the motion, giving it a fifth vote and allowing it to pass.

Also on the council's agenda for Wednesday's special called meeting was a resolution of condemnation of property on South Inglewood Avenue. The condemnation would allow the city to move forwards with a street improvement project.

Smith said there are currently 10 tracts of land whose owners have not reached an agreement with the city or the state highway department, with whom the city is collaborating on the improvement project, for purchase of land to be used for street expansion.

Larkin, who said he is one of the property owners in question, said he did not feel comfortable agreeing to condemn the properties at a low-profile meeting. Smith said he did not feel the council would be surprising the property owners by authorizing the condemnations.

"This process has been going on for a while. ... I think the group know this was something that would happen if they didn't settle," he said.

Still, Larkin urged the city to make one last attempt to negotiate with property owners.

"They just need to feel like their voices are heard," he said. "I don't think you'll have to issues a condemnation on most of them."

The council agreed to table the issue until its next regularly scheduled meeting.

A bid for a tractor for the Public Works department was also accepted by the council at Wednesday's meeting. The council voted unanimously to accept the low bid of $73,499. Only one other bid, for $84,000, was submitted.

City happenings

The Public Works department will soon be fully-staffed, according to Russellville Mayor Bill Eaton.

The position of director of Public Works/city engineer has been offered to Mike Oaks from Memphis, Tenn., who has tentatively accepted the offer, Eaton said. He said Oaks comes with an extensive resume of work experience and is expected to begin work in 2-3 weeks.

Eaton also announced Wednesday final details on the renovation of City Hall on West Second Street were nearing completion and said he expected the project to be finished by the middle of May.